Integral light housing and socket



Sept. 24, 1963 K. J. SCOWEN INTEGRAL LIGHT HOUSING AND SOCKET Filed June 26, 1961 INVENTOR. fiefirzefi? J, fcawew 7 Trek/1127K;

United States Patent 3,104,831 INTEGRAL LIGHT HOUSING AND SGCKET Kenneth J. Scowen, Royal Oak, Micln, assignor to Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed June 26, 1961, Ser. No. 119,568 1 Claim. (Cl. 2404-112) This invention relates to a combination housing and lamp socket wherein the housing and lamp socket are an integral casting. It is a primary object of this invention to provide a low cost, improved type of combination lamp housing and lamp socket wherein the minimum number of individual parts are used.

It is another object of this invention to provide an integrally formed housing and socket wherein the structure lends itself to improved sealing around the lamp socket formation so as to exclude water, ice or other types of foreign matter from the lamp contacts.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an integrally formed one-piece lamp housing and socket that lends itself to formation by die casting processes and wherein the structure lends itself to greater accuracy in mounting of the bulb within the socket and housing such that the bulb filament to lens optics location may be better controlled and wherein there is little possibility of the stack up of tolerances that might otherwise tend to vary the filament to lens optics location.

It is another object of this invention to provide an integrally formed lamp housing and lamp socket wherein ,the socket can be positioned in the housing without regard to shape of the housing surface or the particular location of the socket within the housing.

It is another object of this invention to provide an integrally formed lamp housing and lamp socket wherein a Cost saving may be achieved due to reduction of the number of component parts and due to the fact that it is possible to assemble a pigtail type of lead-in wire complete from contacts prior to assembly of this lead-in wire unit with the housing lamp socket.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become readily apparent from a reading of the following description and a consideration of the related drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional elevational view of a vehicle body sheet metal formation having an integrally formed lamp housing and lamp socket embodying this invention mounted therein;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the rear end of the lamp socket formation looking in the direction of the arrow 2 applied to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view taken along the line and in the direction of the arrows 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional elevational view of the rear end portion of the lamp socket that is an integral part of the lamp housing shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view of a modified form of this invention.

FIG. 1 shows a recessed sheet metal structure 10 which could be a well formed in the fender portion of a motor vehicle body. Mounted within the recessed formation 10, by means of the snap-on nuts 11, is a combination lamp housing and lamp socket unit 12 that embodies this invention. This combination lamp housing and lamp socket 12 is of such a design that it lends itself to for mation by die casting or some similar process. The combination lamp housing and lamp socket consists essentially of a shell portion of dished configuration 13 that has projecting from its rear wall a pair of mounting legs 3'91 4,33'1 Patented Sept. 24, 1963 ICC 14 and 15. These mounting legs 14 and 1 5 are bored as shown at 16 and 17 respectively, such that pressed-in stud members '18 may be mounted in the leg bores. The stud members or pin members 13 are adapted to be connected to the snap-on nut elements 11 so as to fixedly mount the combination lamp housing and lamp socket structure within the recessed body formation It The outer periphery of the housing shell 13 is formed with a stepped flange formation 19 so as to provide a mounting portion for the lamp lens 21 that is preferably of glass or some transparent plastic material. The lens 21 is fixedly anchored to bored stud portions 22 of the housing shell 13 by means of drive-in pins or screw elements 24. Integrally formed with the shell member 13 is a rearwardly projecting lamp socket portion 25. This socket portion 25 comprises essentially a cylindrical sleeve 26 having a flanged collar portion 27 at one end thereof that is adapted to provide the seat for the lamp housing 13 on the rear wall portion 29 of the recessed support 10. It will be noted that the seat portion 27 of the combination lamp housing and socket member 12 has an insulating and shock cushioning Washer of rubber-like material 31 sandwiched between the housing seat portion 27 and the adjacent portion of the support member :10.

Now considering FIGS. 1 and 4 particularly, it will be noted that the lamp socket portion 25 has a radially inwardly extending collar formation 33 adjacent the for- Ward or inner end thereof which collar provides an opening or bore of substantially the diameter of the base 35 of the bulb 34 that is to be mounted in the socket 25. As can be readily seen from FIG. 4, the collar portion 33 of the lamp socket 25 is pierced by a pair of longitudinally extending slot formations 3 6 that are adapted to receive pins 37 projecting radially outwardly from the lamp base 35. In accordance with conventional practice there will be a pair of diametrically opposed slots 36 to receive the pair of pins 37 that normally extend from opposed sides of the lamp base 35. As is conventional, the lamp base 35 is normally pressed into the socket formation by aligning the pins 37 with the open ends of the slots 36 and then pressing the lamp base 35 inwardly through the slots 36 until the pins have cleared the back side 38 of the collar formation 33. After clearing the rear side 38 of the collar formation 33, the lamp 34 is rotated through several degrees so as to position the radially outwardly extending pin formations 37 in the seat formation 3-9 that is formed on the inner or under side 38 of the collar 33.

Looking now at FIG. 3, it will be noted that the cylindrical socket formation 25 has a pair of diametrically opposed slots 39 formed to extend longitudinally along its inner wall. The slots 39 are adapted to slidably receive finger formations 41 that project radially outwardly from the cylindrical disc 42 of insulating material. The disc 42 carries the lamp engaging electrical contacts 43. The contacts 43 are connected to an appropriate type of electrical conductor wire 44 that mounts an appropriate socket means 45 for connection to a source of electrical energy (not shown).

From FIGS. 1 and 4 it is obvious that the fingers 41 on the contact carrying insulator plate 42 extend beyond the diameter of the collar formation 33 on the socket 25. Thus the contact plate 42 can not be projected forwardly in the socket 25 beyond the underside of the collar formation 33. A compression spring 47 is arranged beneath the underside of the contact plate 42 so as to normally urge the contact plate forwardly so as to maintain a good electrical connection between the contacts 43 and the contact tip 49' of the lamp element 34.

A cover plate 51 is mounted in the bore of the cylindrical socket formation 25 so as to provide a means for compressing the spring element 47. This cover plate 51 is fixedly retained in the socket formation 25 by staking over the outer end portion of the socket 25 at several 10- cations around the periphery of the socket. As shown in FIG. 2, four staking formations have been used which are arranged at 90-degree intervals. The staking formations are referred to by the reference numeral 53. The cover plate 51 is pierced by a centrally located aperture that closely receives the periphery of the conductor Wire element 44-. As the conductor wire element 44 is usually covered by a compressible insulating cover such as rubber or plastic, the opening through the cover plate 51 that receives the conductor wire 44 is undersized such that when the conductor wire is pressed through the opening in the cover plate 5-1 a waterproof connection will be obtained around the periphery of the conductor wire 44.

FIG. 5 shows a modified form of this invention wherein the prime difference over the FIGS. 1-4 form is the fact that a different type of sealing means is used to prevent the introduction of moisture or other foreign matter into the contact area of the lamp socket formation 25. In the FIG. 5 modification of this invention the lamp housing 113 has a rear wall portion 114 from which projects an annular collar formation 115. The collar formation 115 surrounds a portion of the housing base 114 that is adapted to seat the rear end of an insulating boot 116. This housing boot seating portion is denoted 117 in FIG. 5. In the FIG. 5 modification the tubular sealing boot 116 closely surrounds the conductor wire 44 and has its inner end portion 119 turned radially outwardly to provide a flange formation that will seat against the housing portion 117. Overlying the portion 119 of the sealing boot 116 is a retainer plate 121 that also has a centrally arranged opening to receive the boot 116 and conductor 44. The retainer plate 121 is fixedly mounted in the collar formation 115 by staking over spaced portions of the collar 115 in the manner similar to the staking formations 53 shown in the FIG. 1 through FIG. 4 form of this invention.

It is thought to be obvious from the prior description of the invention that due to the integral formation of the bulb socket 25 with the housing 13 that the bulb 34 will have a fixed relationship with respect to the position of the lens 21. Furthermore, because the lamp socket for- 4 v mation 25 is an integral part of the housing 13, the lam socket 25 can be positioned at any particular location on the housing 13 without regard to the shape thereof. Also, the elimination of separate means to connect the lamp socket 25 to the housing 13 is a cost savings as 'is the fact that the contact plate 42, the conductor 44, the spring 47 and the retainer plate 51 or 121 can-be pre-assembled as a sub-assembly for ready mounting in th open rear end of the integral lamp socket 25. a

I claim:

A lamp unit comprising an integrally formed, onepiece, cast, combination housing and lamp bulb socket formation wherein said socket is an open endedfi'mperforate, cylindrical sleeve projecting from a wall of said housing with said sleeve having a smooth exterior surface and radially inwardly projecting, integral, interior formations at the front end thereof to provide for the detachable mounting of a lamp bulb base in the forward end portion of the socket sleeve, the interior rear end portion of the socket sleeve mounting a resilientlysupported electrical contact plate that is continuously urged towards the forward end of said socket sleeve, said radially inwardly projecting interior formations on said sleeve limiting the forward movement of said contact plate, an interiorly positioned retainer plate assembled through the rear end of said sleeve to sealingly close the rear end of said sleeve, said retainer plate being mounted in said sleeve by deformation of the rear end portion of said sleeve, said housing having an integral step formation extending around the outer periphery thereof to seat a lens element, and integrally formed stud means projecting from said housing to provide for the mounting of the housing on a support.

References Cited in the file of this patent i it UNITED STATES PATENTS 

